Every time I try to read an article from The Halifax Examiner, I’m reminded that paywalls may be behind a good share of the working‑class, media‑fuelled biases we’re seeing these days.
I’m not specifically picking on the Examiner, honest! They just pop up in my feed, and every time an enticing headline lands that I can’t read, I remember why I hate paywalls and their self‑righteous, sanctimonious classism. “You ain’t wearin’ a tie, you ain’t gettin’ in.” The New York Times, The Washington Post, and thousands of local news outlets too; they are no different. Ye gods, they just love their paywalls. Even the word oozes exclusivity: pay‑wall, pay‑wall, pay‑wall. Build a big, beautiful paywall to keep the moochers out; Ayn would be proud of you all.
Like plenty of folks in a poor province (the pay for being a professional disinformation expert is paltry at best), I can’t afford those subscriptions, and I can’t go to the library to read news, because that’s not a thing any more. Truthful and cromulent political journalism is now a middle‑class hobby with a cover charge.
So is it any wonder that the people who most need to see solid political reporting and opinion, backed by facts and sources, can’t get it? There’s a reason why you hardly ever see paywalls on the right‑wing sites: they understand the living situations of the demographic they’re targeting.
I don’t claim to have the magic business model for real news sources. Maybe a “pay what you can” setup could have worked, but the outlets are set in their middle‑class ways, and most readers have already picked their favourite snake‑oil vendor.
Right, happy (belated) Labour Day. I’m off to Rebel News and Twitter to find out what I’m supposed to think about the Western Provinces and the CPP.